A little taste of 'Savoie' - or something I wrote last term...

Categories: uncategorized, france, work, hols, my-beloved

Date: 07 February 2011 18:29:41

I forgot how to save photos smaller to upload them, so this became a forgotten draft. Sorry. Just before Christmas I remembered and have been meaning to finish this post since. Here you have it, piccies included. [caption id="attachment_311" align="alignright" width="300" caption="one of my birthday roses"][/caption] :D For my birthday I got 20 red roses and tickets to go and see Sting. (I'll tell you more about the symphonic experience in a later post.) Right. I know that wasn't yesterday, but look anyway: PREEETTYYY!! :D I thought I'd write and post some photos, specially with summer having rushed off and autumn galloping in... I'll start with the Mont Blanc simply because I spent a couple of weeks working in Savoie this summer, took some nice clear mountain pictures and want to show them off. [caption id="attachment_312" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="A shed with a difference!"][/caption]

This little hut was next to our neighbours' house. Most traditional chalets have a cold store like this where they would have kept things like grain and hay over the winter.

Work isn't always hard and can have perks you don't expect. I spent some very  relaxing cooking or washing up times having a book read out loud to me, all about Savoie customs and life in previous centuries. As well as making much lighter work, I learnt loads of old savoyard tricks and admired beautiful old sepia photos. I worked as home-help for a disabled lady and her sister took us round the mountain in the family's work van to see sights and go for a walk. My Beloved having lent me his camera, I was snap-happy, testing features like zoom, panoramic and more. This combination yielded a squillion photos from which I've had a hard job choosing. Here are my favourites. [caption id="attachment_313" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Le Mont Blanc vous fait coucou!"]Le Mont Blanc vous fait coucou![/caption] [caption id="attachment_314" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Lilac coloured and snowdrop shaped."]Lilac coloured and snowdrop shaped.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_315" align="alignright" width="300" caption="3 witches"]3 witches[/caption] See, out of 500 taken, these are only a drop in the ocean and you still have lots of examples of my photographic skill (!) to admire. (So many in fact that, having finally published this post last night, I decided it was stupidly heavy to load. This morning, I scaled all the photos down for an easier read.) Luckily for me, fuzzy photos made it a bit less difficult to choose. The Alps are so beautiful! I keep repeating this and thinking it, over and again, every time I look back at the photos. Anyhow! May I have inspired you to take a climb and a breath of fresh air! [caption id="attachment_316" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Mont Blanc, later in the day with less clouds. View from a valley instead of the crest of a mountain."]Mont Blanc, later in the day with less clouds. View from a valley instead of the crest of a mountain.[/caption] Next is one of my favourite mountains and I forgot it's name. It's a stereotypical mountain shape and I find it so satisfying to look at. [caption id="attachment_317" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Aiguille Verte"]Aiguille Verte[/caption] I first thought of the Pic du Midi, but then remembered that's in the Pyrenees, and anyway the name simply didn't sound right... Google has come up trumps finding me this link which shows the Aiguille Verte from a different viewpoint. So the peak with 'midi' in its name could have been that one, but judging from the earlier link it's probably this next spikey friend of Mr Mont Blanc's. [caption id="attachment_318" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Aiguille du Midi"]Aiguille du Midi[/caption] [caption id="attachment_319" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Glacier"]Glacier[/caption]

I'm not sure whether this was the one, but while I was in the Val d'Arly, there was a lot of talk about some awesome engineers and crew managing to figure out how to drain a glacier that was fit to burst above a large alpine town.

It was tense. Those guys have my respect and then some: great inspiration, resourcefulness and inventiveness and most of all courage to work on the dodgy landscape in the first place. [caption id="attachment_320" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="a mountain I thought looked like a good climbing frame"]a mountain I thought looked like a good climbing frame[/caption]


A
climbing
frame...


and
its
natural
habitat.
;)


(Argh! The frame extending above a picture, underneath the previous one, is annoying! I've successfully fought the previous occurrence with waffle. How does one make a frame obey?) [caption id="attachment_321" align="aligncentre" width="450" caption="Sunlit"]Sunlit[/caption]

And a final shot before turning my back on the majestic view.

From left to right: the Aiguille Verte, the Aiguille du Midi, the glacier and Mr Mont Blanc.

[caption id="attachment_322" align="aligncentre" width="450" caption="Mountain range"]Mountain range[/caption]